PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
US and UK special forces are looking at acquiring additional Boeing CH-47 Chinooks in the wake of the recent conflict in Afghanistan. But new orders will do little to prevent up to a 30% cut in jobs at the manufacturer's helicopter arm, and the closure of a sizeable part of its facility at Ridley Park, Philadelphia.
The company has announced plans to shed between 1,000 and 1,500 of the plant's 5,000-strong workforce by mid-2004. This comes in the face of a shrinking Chinook international orderbook, delays to the start of the US Army's CH-47F remanufacturing programme, and recent major setbacks in Bell Boeing V-22 development.
Boeing is looking at several opportunities to bolster its flagging CH-47 line, and is understood to be discussing the sale of additional special operations configured Chinook Mk3s to the UK Royal Air Force and potentially replacements for US Special Operations Command MH-47s. While no MH-47D/Fs have been reported lost in Afghanistan, at least three machines are so badly damaged from ground fire that they are beyond economical repair. Elsewhere, Boeing is looking at emerging requirements in Brazil and Malaysia, while Turkey is once again considering the CH-47. In the interim there is a diminishing amount of work. The last of 14 Mk2/3's were delivered to the UK at the end of 2001, along with two of the nine CH-47SDs ordered by Taiwan. The company is rebuilding the final six of Egypt's 15 Augustabuilt CH-47Cs and another five for Spain, all to the D Standard.
The US Army has delayed by 15 months to 2002/3 the start of CH-47F low-rate initial remanufacturing, while full rate will not start until 2004/5. At the same time the US Marine Corps has postponed by at least two to three years the start of V-22 full-rate production, leaving Boeing to continue producing a minimum sustainable number of 11-12 tiltrotors a year.
Boeing is reducing its Ridley Park plant from 140HA (345 acres) to 80Ha as part of a general restructuring effort. The plant will outsource all fabrication work to focus solely on assembly, integration and testing. Apache subcontracting for its Mesa sister plant is being wound down, while the production of 757 airliner leading-edge flaps have been moved elsewhere.
Source: Flight International
